Dreams of Destiny
by Lonely Angel of Fire
Summary: After having to stay home sick while Colette leaves and Genis is banished, Lloyd goes after them. But with a randomly stricking illness, and strange dreams, Lloyd runs into trouble. Kranna, Yuartel
1. Chapter 1

**Dreams of Destiny**

Summary: On the day of Prophesy, Lloyd is sick and ends up being left behind by his friends. Worried about Genis and his recent banishment, and Colette and Raine, Lloyd goes after them. But he's been having strange dreams lately, and he's gotten into some trouble. Luckily, he'll have someone to save him…  
Pairings: One-sided Gesea, Kranna, Yuartel, Colloyd in later chapters

Another story... I should really stop now -_-' This idea has been hanging around in my head for awhile- since I got sick a few months ago. All I can hope for is that I don't kill the plot completely after the tower of salvation... anyway, enjoy!  
_**EDIT- 07/14/10 - Fixed some errors and the line breaks.**_

* * *

Chapter 1 Saying Goodbye

Lloyd lay in bed, reading. It was the only thing he could do that didn't involve him moving too much. He hadn't been out of bed in days. He couldn't stomach any food, he had a constant headache, and earache. Dirk was sure that he just had the flu, and had called Raine to take a look at him. Though, even Lloyd had told him several times, Dirk wouldn't believe him. Lloyd honestly didn't want to move- whenever he did, he would have a feeling that his back was on fire.

Lloyd closed the book- he had been trying to read it for the past hour, but kept getting bored with it. He set it on the table beside his bed. He felt really guilty about getting sick on Colette's birthday, and not being able to finish her present, or protect her when the oracle came. Lloyd flipped over to bury his face in the pillow- immediately regretting it as he felt a spasm of pain go through his back, then stop after staying still for a few seconds.

Lloyd groaned, "What did I ever do to deserve this?" As if on cue, the shelf above his head broke, and Lloyd was hit in the head by the board, and all of his homework for that week- and the test he had yet to tell Dirk about. "…"

After-painfully- moving the board to the floor, Lloyd looked out the window, seeing that the sun was setting. _I must've fallen asleep earlier…_

There was a loud knock on the door from downstairs, followed by footsteps and Lloyd's door opening. Lloyd looked over, seeing Raine surveying his room- mainly the papers that were now all over Lloyd's bed.

"The shelf broke…" Lloyd said quietly.

"While you're here sick, you should do some of that homework," Raine said, putting a hand to Lloyd's forehead, "You don't have a fever…"

"Did the oracle happen today?" Lloyd asked.

Raine nodded, "Yes. Colette and I are leaving tomorrow."

"It's just you two-?"

"A mercenary named Kratos will be joining us as well," Raine replied, searching through her bag.

"I wish I could go with you guys."

"I'm surprised that you aren't begging to go, even in this condition," Raine took out a bottle of medicine, "Drink this once a day, it should help with the headache."

She set it down on the table as Colette and Genis ran into the room, a man with red hair standing by the door, not saying a word.

Lloyd sat up slowly as the two younger teens walked towards him.

"Are you feeling alright, Lloyd?" Colette asked.

Lloyd winced as the pain in his back subsided, "Err… Yeah. Did everything go alright at the temple?"

Colette smiled, nodding, "Yeah, it went great! We met up with a few monsters, but Kratos took care of them!"

"I helped too!" Genis exclaimed.

"And Genis. Raine showed up, too," Colette added.

"I really wanted to come with you," Lloyd said.

"Genis won't be going," Raine said, "He is staying here."

"Yeah, so I'll come and see how your doing every day!" Genis grinned.

Colette smiled, "I guess we should go now… If you get better in time, you can come say goodbye tomorrow. We're leaving at nine o'clock!" Colette made her way to the door, before turning around, "Goodbye, Lloyd!"

She left the room, Genis waving and leaving as well, the red-haired man following.

Raine turned to Lloyd, "Don't forget to do all of that homework as well, alright?"

* * *

_An eraser hit Lloyd in the face, making the teen jump to attention, only to find himself in Raine's classroom._

_"How do you manage to sleep standing?" Raine asked, "Genis, answer the question."_

_"Yes Raine," Genis stood up._

_Lloyd barely listened to a word of what Genis had said, until a bright light shone through the window._

_"That's the oracle," Raine said, trying to calm down her students, "I'll be going o the chapel. Colette, wait here."_

_Lloyd suddenly felt something hit the side of his head…-_

Lloyd jerked away, sitting up in bed- and realizing the pain in his back was gone. The side of his head still hurt. Looking beside him, he saw that the clock that had been hanging above him had fallen on his head.

He got out of bed, glad that he no longer felt any sickness at all. Outside, the sun had only just started to rise- it was an early time for Lloyd to get up.

He ran downstairs, realizing how hungry he was. Seeing that Dirk wasn't awake yet, Lloyd grabbed an apple and made a sandwich. He felt much better than he had the day before- it was as if he had never been sick at all.

Dirk walked into the room, surprised to see Lloyd. "You're finally awake? I thought you'd never wake up," He said, "You've been sleepin' since Colette left two days ago."

Lloyd froze, "I've been asleep for two days?"

"Yea' I'm sorry to say this, but Genis was banished, and left with them."

Lloyd jumped to his feet, "I'm going."

Dirk sighed, "Lloyd, don't you go doin' this right away. You were sick two days ago!"

"But-"

"But nothin'," Dirk interrupted

"Dad, I feel perfectly fine now! I have to make sure Colette and Genis are okay!" Lloyd exclaimed, then relaxed slowly, "I…"

"There's no stopping you once you've made your mind," Dirk said, "But at least rest for the day, alright?"

Lloyd nodded, "You're right, sorry Dad."

* * *

After two days, Dirk allowed Lloyd to start packing his supplies. With the bag over his shoulder, Lloyd kneeled beside his mother's grave.

"Well Mom… I'm going to try to catch up with Colette… I hope everything is great, wherever you are," Lloyd said quietly, standing up, turning around to face Dirk.

"We may not be related by blood, but this is your home, and I'm still your father, remember that," Dirk said.

Lloyd smiled, "Right Dad! I'll see you later! And I'll mss you!"

"Be careful, Lloyd," Dirk said, watching Lloyd walk off, Noishe following closely behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 A Glance at the Enemy

Lloyd, upon seeing that the sun was setting, looked around for a suitable place to camp. Dropping his bag, he looked at Noishe, "I'm gonna get some firewood. Stay here and keep watch, 'k Noishe?"

Lloyd turned and left as he saw his dog sit down, making himself comfortable. Lloyd quickly cam back with firewood, and started to make a fire. Noishe moved to sit beside him as Lloyd began eating an apple he had packed.

"You'll make sure no one attacks after I go to sleep, right Noishe?" Lloyd asked. Noishe replied with a whine. After that, Lloyd quickly fell asleep.

_

* * *

_

_Genis ran up to Lloyd, who was standing near his mother's grave, about to go join Colette on her journey._

_"Why are you still here? I thought you wanted to tell Colette goodbye?" Genis asked._

_"Oh. I've changed my mind, I'm going with her!"_

_"You idiot! Colette left hours ago!"_

_"Wha-"_

_One of the villagers of Iselia suddenly ran towards them, out of breath. "Desians… Desians are attacking the village!"_

The mayor stood in front of Lloyd and Genis. "Alright then. Genis Sage and Lloyd Irving, you are hereby banished from Iselia!"

Lloyd was awoken by Noishe, who was whining and nudging him urgently. It was barely dawn. "Noishe, is something wrong?"

Suddenly, there was a ball of lightning right beside his face, about to yell and attempt to fight back, the attacker covered his mouth.

"Don't move and you may actually live."

* * *

"No."

"But- but-" The girl begged, giving the younger, shorter, blonde-haired boy a pleading look.

"I said-"

The girl took off her hat, and her lip started to tremble. "Please-"

The boy pulled on the girl's long green-haired braid. "No! I am _not_ getting my jerk of a brother-in-law involved in this-"

"You thought I was going to ask that again? I was going to ask if we could save that kid who just got kidnapped by a 'desian'." The girl pouted.

The boy slapped himself in the face. "Sister, you will drive me to insanity one day-"

"I thought I already did." The girl replied sarcastically.

"That doesn't count, dammit!" He exclaimed, "But fine. I'll save this kid who was captured by the 'desians' for you."

* * *

Lloyd woke up in a prison cell, his head throbbing. They had taken his pack and swords away, of course, so he had nothing to help him escape. He looked outside the cell, and saw that the hallway was deserted. He could try to pick the lock…

"Ahh! Martel, save me!" A boy suddenly feel from the ceiling, making Lloyd freeze in place. He looked up seeing as there was a ventilation shaft above, and a young woman jumped down landing on the boy, who had been trying to get up.

"See? The back door would've been a better idea!" The boy commented.

The woman seemed to ignore him, and walked over to Lloyd's cell. "Well… We're here to save you…" She said nervously, beginning to type in a password into the electrical lock. "My name is Letran, and this is my little brother… Sothim."

"I don't understand why we're saving this guy, we don't have anything to gain from screwing this up-"

The door to the cell opened. "I need to find my stuff first." Lloyd said. Sothim walked off for a minute, and came back, throwing the Lloyd's bag and swords at him.

"The guy who runs this place is really predictable…" Sothim said, walking away. "Are we going or not? We can't exactly get out through the air shafts." Lloyd quickly put his swords back onto his belt, and shouldered his pack, and followed the siblings.

"I doubt we'll just be able to walk out the front door…" Sothim muttered, opening another door, and revealing an empty room. "And what happened to everyone?"

"Maybe they've realized that someone has broken in and are planning a surprise attack?" Letran suggested.

"Let's just get out of here," Lloyd said quickly, rather unsure of trusting the two of them.

"Why? There's no rush, it's not like you're injured…" Sothim said, "Unless you have something against being around half-elves. If you do, you're better off in that prison cell…"

"Well, I hate desians, and desians are half-elves but…"

"Let's go, I don't hear anyone in the next hallway!" Letran exclaimed, running off.

The two boys followed, and Letran led them to a door with 'Yuan's Office' written on the front. She put her ear against the door, only to remove her hat to listen more closely. "Okay, if we're quiet, we can go straight out the back door… Ready… go!" The door opened, and she ran through, Sothim dragging Lloyd through the doorway.

"I knew I heard some rats earlier…" The two boys stopped, while Letran kept running. There was a man with blue hair standing on the other side of the room, holding a strange weapon glaring at Sothim and Lloyd. "Who are you?"

"We wanted to join you!" Sothim exclaimed, "The guards in front wouldn't let us in, either!" Lloyd glanced at him, trying to keep a straight face.

"You're here to join the renegades?"

Now Lloyd was confused, these guys were desians, weren't they…? "Rene-"

"Yes! My name is Sothim Lisar and this is my… cousin... L-Lyle Karvion!"

"Really…?" The man said, smirking.

"Well- yeah!" Sothim said, nervously tugging at the rim of his shirt.

"Why are you so nervous then?" The man asked.

"Is something wrong, Sothim?" Lloyd whispered.

"He isn't buying the act… Run on my signal…" Sothim said, looking over to the door, where Letran was trying to solve the code.

"He's probably just nervous to finally meet you, as am I… sir!" Lloyd exclaimed, trying to help Sothim out.

Sothim glanced over at his sister again, and suddenly shouted, "Run!"

The man slid in front of them, "You're not going anywhere!"

Sothim suddenly took a sword from the small satchel that he had, and blocked an attack. "Go on ahead with Letran, tell her I'll be fine, I can take care of Yuan myself!"

"But- Fine!" Lloyd ran out the door Letran had opened, and over to where Letran was waiting. Then he was tackled by Noishe.

"Noishe! Get off me!" Lloyd exclaimed, pushing his dog away.

"Where's Sothim?" Letran asked.

"He said that he'll be fine, and that he can take care of Yuan himself…-"

She sighed. "Ugh! I hate this! Why must he always do this?" She sat down beside Lloyd pouting.

"… Thanks for getting me out of there," Lloyd said, startling Letran.

"It's fine… Don't mind Sothim, he's been like that for a… a really long time… Some things happened, and he hasn't exactly… forgiven himself for it," Letran said.

"…Hunh?"

"Forget it," She replied, "It's nothing to worry about… Anyway! Are you traveling alone?"

"For now…" Lloyd replied, unsure if he should trust the two siblings yet.

"Well, want to travel with us to Triet-"

"Letran, remind me to tell myself to kill Yuan, alright?" Sothim shouted, anger clearly shown on his face, as he walked over- his anger probably coming from the fact that he was covered in scratches and bruises.

Letran glared at him, "No. Now come here so that I can heal you!" Sothim walked over, Letran taking a long staff from her pack, and beginning to cast healing spells.

Lloyd, however was stunned. "How-how does the staff fit in there? Sothim did that earlier too, with that sword!"

"How about you never mention it again?" Sothim replied, "You owe us for saving you, after all."

Letran whacked her brother with her staff. "It's called a wingpack. It can hold a large amount of things in a small bag. They're rather hard to get or make in Sylvarant. That's probably why you haven't heard of them."

"Really? That's so cool!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"Just don't tell anyone, okay!" Sothim exclaimed, wincing as his cuts disappeared.

"By the way Lloyd, we could travel together to Triet. Things would be easier for all of us." Letran said, then turned to Lloyd and smiled.

"I'm trying to catch up to my friends, I don't know exactly where they're going…" Lloyd said, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, we're like nomads, we don't settle in one place for too long, so why don't we help you catch up to them?" Letran asked.

"Doesn't my opinion count-?"

"Nope!" She chirped, patting him on the head, receiving a glare from him.

"I guess we can travel together… Noishe seems to like you already, too!"

"Great, we'll head to Triet tomorrow, then!"

Later that night, after Lloyd had fallen asleep, the two siblings watched the fire.

"Hey sis… Are you sure about this?" Sothim asked.

"We need to make sure…"

"I'm just glad he forgot about the renegades, and he didn't notice when you casted that spell." He pointed out.

"… I'll keep watch, get some rest." Letran said, watching the sleeping figure of Lloyd and Noishe several feet away.

* * *

**_EDIT- 07/14/10 - Reposted to fix line breaks and fixed some errors  
_**  
Thanks to everyone that reviewed!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The City ofTriet

"We're finally in Triet!" Lloyd exclaimed, Noishe seeming to whine in agreement. They had just entered the city after two days of walking through the desert.

"You're such a child," Sothim pointed out, quickening his pace to walk ahead of Lloyd and his sister.

"Aren't you younger than me…?" Lloyd wondered out loud, forgetting Letran was there.

"He's around your age, actually," Letran said. "Well, I'm guessing at your age but… you look around sixteen…"

"I'm seventeen, actually." Lloyd pointed out.

"Well, I was close!"

"Thanks again for the help in that desian base. I'd better be going, hopefully we'll meet again someday!" Lloyd ran off, Noishe following behind, and waving to Letran.

"Yes! I'll be sure to say hi if I ever see you!" She shouted back. Then she realized she didn't know where her brother had gone. "I'd better find my brother before he gets himself killed…"

* * *

Lloyd wondered around, asking a few people if the chosen had been through the city. Most of them replied saying that they had only heard rumors. Lloyd had started to walk alone after he was told he couldn't have Noishe with him, and dropped off his dog in the stables beside the inn.

He reached a dead end, with a tent, and a sign with 'Fortune Teller' written on it. He walked in, curious to see.

"Hello, what is it that you seek from me today?" A young woman sitting behind desk asked.

"Well, I was just looking around-"

"For theChosen, correct?" The woman asked, "Yes, she passed by. She first left for the Triet ruins, then she returned and left again… headed towards Izoold"

"How do you know?" Lloyd asked, creeped out by the mysterious woman.

"I overheard from the man in their group, and from the innkeeper, who comes here regularly. I also overheard you talking outside."

"…" Lloyd sighed.

"Since this is your first visit, I'll give you your fortune for free, if you'd like."

"Uhh… Sure, why not?" Lloyd shrugged.

"Show me your hand." Lloyd passed the woman his hand, who took a hold of it. "Your past is strangely twisted with your future, along with the lives of people you believe to no longer be alive. You aren't sure to trust two new companions either, although they are quite trustworthy… There is also someone far away, worrying over your health and well-being…"

"Whoa…" Lloyd said, staring in surprise at the woman.

"And you are suffering from a strange sickness recently, due to something that has happened to you in the past… or is it the future…?" The woman finished, letting Lloyd's hand drop. "There you go, hope you come again!"

* * *

Lloyd had awoken happily- glad that he hadn't gotten another one of the strange dreams. Of course all his happiness went down the drain when he walked outside to see a couple of desians putting up a wanted poster of him. Lloyd knew that desians killed his mother because they wanted the exphere- but he hadn't let anyone know about it- unless they discovered it when he was at that desian base… Lloyd watched the two desians leave, then walked quickly over to where Noishe was being kept so he could leave the city.

"Hey you!"

Lloyd cursed under his breath, turning to face the desian who'd called him and his companion. "Have you seen this guy?" One of them asked, holding up one of the wanted posters. Lloyd hadn't gotten a good glance earlier, but now he could tell that it didn't look anything like him- they had even listed the wrong height. "He should be traveling with a young half-elf."

"Sorry, haven't seen him!" Lloyd said quickly, hoping to get away without a fight.

"Hmph, guess we shouldn't have expected more then that." The two desians walked off, leaving Lloyd to breath a sigh of relief before continuing on his way to retrieve Noishe and leave the city.

Then he realized that something was off with what the desian said. "But I don't know any half-elves…"

* * *

Raine was awoken by the shouts coming from Colette in the room next to her. She ran over, bursting into Colette's room, only to see that the girl was tangled in her blankets on the floor.

"Colette, are you alright?" Raine asked.

Colette began to get free of the blankets and stand up, smiling. "It was a bad dream. Sorry Professor."

"I see. What was it about-?"

"I dreamt… that Lloyd hadn't been sick, and he came on the journey… but he was going to get hurt… because of me…"

* * *

**Edit 25/06/11 - Reposted due to mixing up the chapters. Fixed some mistakes and the linebreaks.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Reunion..?

_"Raine and Genis were half-elves the entire time. Are you going to forgive them for that?" A boy with long, red hair asked._

_"Of course! They're my friends!" Lloyd exclaimed._

_"Humans traveling with half-elves? I doubt that." Someone commented._

_There was a sudden puff of smoke, revealing a girl in strange violet clothing._

_"Sheena? I though you were in Mizuho?" Someone from behind Lloyd asked.  
_

* * *

Lloyd had finally reached the Ossa Trail. Noishe had run off somewhere ahead- Lloyd wasn't that worried, as the canine often would run off and return a few days later. He felt like he had been there before- and had been attacked- which made him wary of someone jumping out and attacking him. He walked up to a trap door on the ground.

_"It's not a trap. It's a hidden maintenance passage for the mountain path."_

Lloyd clutched his head, which was starting to throb. He was hearing voices… That wasn't a good thing… right? But the voice did sound like the Professor's… His head had started to hurt again.

_The girl from the dream before, Sheena, fell down the hole. _

_"Oh no! I did it again…" Colette exclaimed, walking over to look down after the fallen girl._

_"You shouldn't worry about it. If she hadn't fallen, she would've killed you," Raine said._

_"But…"_

"Hey! Are you alright?" A shout rang through Lloyd's thoughts, making him snap out of the… whatever it was. He turned around to see Sheena, and a small animal beside her.

"You! You're-!" Lloyd exclaimed, backing up a step.

"Wha-? Have I met you somewhere?" Sheena asked. Lloyd noticed that she was covered in scratches, bruises, and burns.

"You were trying to kill Colette- but you also helped save Genis and professor- but those were dreams…" Lloyd muttered, trying to sort out his thoughts to why this girl was here.

"A-Are you alright?" Sheena asked again.

"Oh ah, yeah, I'm fine, just… confused. I mistook you for someone else, I think." Lloyd replied, trying to pretend nothing happened. It was probably just a coincidence, right? "What about you? Uh, my name's Lloyd, by the way."

"I'm fine. It's not as bad as it looks. I'm Sheena-Sheena Fujibayashi. I'd better go. Hope I'll be able see you again." Sheena suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke, Lloyd staring where she had once been.

"… Things are sure getting weird," Lloyd muttered. He kept walking on; eventually the rocks and forest were thick on both side of the path, leaving Lloyd to keep himself wary of monsters that might jump out and attack-

"That's not a monster-!"

Lloyd suddenly had a sword at his throat, Sothim being the one holding it. Letran running out of the forest and looking between them worriedly. Sothim withdrew the sword, sighing.

"… Uh, hello again, Lloyd. You didn't find your friends?" Letran asked.

"No… But what are you two doing here?" Lloyd asked, rubbing his neck.

Sothim sheathed his sword, glaring at Lloyd. "I don't see how that is any of your business."

"Sothim-! I'm sorry about him. He's just been grumpy because we ran into a… old friend of his," Letran explained, "We're just doing what we always have been. Exploring the world. Isn't that right Sothim?" The last sentence Letran glared at her brother, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Let's just get going," Sothim growled.

Letran seemed to ignore him, turning to Lloyd, "Why don't we travel together until you find your friends? We'll be safer that way."

"Uh, sure!" Lloyd nodded.

"We're fine either way-!" Sothim exclaimed.

"Don't worry about my brother, really!"

* * *

The group of three had made it to Izoold- Sothim constantly staring at Lloyd and sighing the whole way there- when a problem made itself clear, after Lloyd had found out that Colette and the others had gone to Palmacosta. They were now at the entrance to the town, thinking over what they were going to do next.

"We can't take a boat to Palmacosta." Sothim stated flatly.

"There is a path to the east that we could take," Letran said.

Lloyd sighed. "But it would take such a long time to get to Palmacosta then!"

"Not to mention that idiot Koton. We don't exactly have the money for the passes," Sothim said- mainly to Letran.

"Who's Koton?" Lloyd asked.

"The guy from Hakenosia Peak. He makes everyone buy expensive passes to get through there- almost impossible to actually save up that kind of money, really," Letran replied.

"Maybe if you hadn't trashed the rheairds then we could just fly to Palmacosta!" Sothim exclaimed.

"What's a rheaird?" Lloyd asked.

Sothim ignored the question to continue yelling at his sister. "And if we hadn't picked up this idiot- don't look at me like that! - Then we wouldn't have to worry about it anyway!"

Letran looked at her brother-disapproving of his reasoning-hands on her hips. "Then we will tell him, and help him get back with his friends, won't we?"

"But sis-!"

"Why don't we wait in another town until they come?" Lloyd suggested, becoming uncomfortable with the sibling's quarrel. "They'll have to go through Hakenosia peak to get to theTowerofSalvation, right?"

"They're going to the Tower? Are your friends the chosen's group?" Sothim asked.

"Uh… yeah." Lloyd replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Then they'll be heading to Asgard- one of the seals is near there." Sothim said. "We can head there and wait for them to arrive."

"What do you think Lloyd?" Letran asked.

"Okay! Let's go then!" Lloyd exclaimed.

Sothim sighed, "We'll leave _tomorrow_, when we'll at least be out of the forested areas of that continent by nightfall."

Lloyd blushed. "I guess you're right."

Sothim walked off, making an annoyed sound. "I'll go get a room from the inn. Go buy supplies."

"… He reminds me of someone…" Lloyd muttered.

"Well! Let's go shop, shall we?" Letran exclaimed suddenly, grabbing Lloyd's arm and dragging him towards the market.

* * *

_A man was standing over him, holding a sword pointed at his throat. Lloyd didn't know who the man was- he looked familiar, as if he'd seen him before._

_"Have you really betrayed us, Kratos?" Lloyd asked._

_The man- Kratos- did not reply, only raised the sword to attack, but froze, confusing Lloyd. A sudden sound to his right caused Lloyd to glance in that direction, and standing there was another angel who had just warped there. _

_"I suppose such an opponent could be too much against you, Kratos."_

_Kratos knelt down. "Lord Yggdrasill."_

_Lloyd realized something. This Yggdrasill man looked a lot like Sothim… and sounded like him._

Lloyd flinched, immediately sitting up in bed. He shivered, looking around the room. Letran was asleep, and Sothim was staring at him from his bed near the window.

"Nightmare?" Sothim asked.

"Y-yeah. Something like that." Lloyd replied, still unnerved by the dream.

"Hmmm…" Sothim nodded, "About what?"

"Uh… some guy-err, angel, named Kratos about to kill me, then some other angel that looked a lot like you shows up and attacks me. I think his name was Yggdrasill…. I've been having such weird dreams lately-"

Sothim suddenly got up and left the room, half-slamming the door behind him. Lloyd stared at the door, confused as to why he left.

* * *

**Edit 25/06/11 - Reposted due to mixing up the chapters. Fixed some mistakes and the linebreaks.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Odd Happenings

While Lloyd and his two companions were traveling towards Hima, the chosen's group was facing a dilemma.

Washtubs.

"I will stay here," Raine stated.

"But Raine, we need to get the Spiritua Statue so we can get the book back!" Genis exclaimed.

"You can go without me, correct?" Raine asked, staring wearily at the water.

"Come on, Professor! It'll be fun!" Colette chirped.

Kratos sighed. He'd have to get her to come along somehow. "I believe there are some ancient writings near the geyser…"

"Really?" Raine immediately climbed into one of the washtubs, only to look back at the others and ask, "What are you waiting for?"

Kratos stared for a moment before helping Colette into one of the washtubs, swearing that if he ever had to do this again, he was bringing a boat over from Tethe'alla.

Once they were across, it was decided that Kratos would go get the statue while Genis cast the 'icicle' spell. Raine was searching for the writings Kratos had mentioned. It was only _after_ Kratos had come back that she discovered the oracle stone.

Colette hadn't been paying attention to what was going on around her, staring into space at the geyser. It wasn't until Kratos tapped her shoulder that she looked up.

"Oh, sorry Kratos. D-did you get the statue?"

"Miss Sage found an oracle stone." Kratos replied, vaguely wondering what was distracting the girl so much.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Colette exclaimed, looking around for Raine before quickly going to put her hand on the oracle stone.

As the four of them walked inside, Raine watched Colette looked around, faking interest in the unfamiliar place. "Colette," Raine said quietly, "Are you alright?"

Colette looked off to the side- where Kratos walked by- went wide-eyed and flinched, before staring at her feet, silent.

"Colette?" Raine said worriedly.

"No-! I mean, yes! Everything's fine! I'm just worried about Lloyd! 'tcomeafterusandall-!" Colette blurted out.

"Colette…?" Raine raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly the young woman was thinking about.

"Um… look! There's a wall of ancient angelic language!" Colette exclaimed, pointing at a random wall- which, strangely enough, did have angelic written on it. Raine went into ruin mode, investigating the tablet with enthusiasm. Colette sighed in relief. She flinched and looked to her left again, only to run to catch up with Kratos, who just ignored her.

"Hey Colette, are you feeling alright? You haven't been eating much lately…" Genis said, walking quickly to catch up with Colette.

"I eat, you just haven't noticed… " Colette smiled. "Don't worry about me."

Genis sighed. "I wonder how Lloyd's doing…"

Colette stared at him at a moment before muttering something that sounded like 'not having fun.'

"Colette?"

Colette immediately perked up and smiled. "Sorry, I just spaced out for a second, sorry."

Genis just sighed, thinking that Colette was just nervous about breaking the seal. "It's fine. Be careful though, okay?"

"Yeah…" Colette smiled.

* * *

"Why is it so damn hot here?" Sothim exclaimed. They were walking towards Hima, which had rather warm weather during the summertime. Lloyd nodded, silently agreeing with his statement. Though, Triet was warmer. But the humidity here was unbearable-! Letran sighed, turning to Noishe-who had rejoined them after they had left Izoold- and patting the 'dog' on the head. "I know, they're such wimps, aren't they?"

"Not all of us are so indifferent to the weather!" Sothim exclaimed.

"Now, now. I know you're angry about Lloyd joining us, but why don't you calm down, hmm? There's no need to make a scene!" Letran said cheerfully. Lloyd was a bit creeped out by it. There was a dangerous undertone to her words, but her face reminded him of Colette.

"Right, sis." Sothim muttered.

"Good. How long is to Hima again?" Letran asked.

"Another good two hours." Sothim replied.

"Can we stop to eat? I'm starving!" Lloyd said, scratching the back of his head.

"…No. You can wait, can't you?" Sothim said, glaring at Lloyd. Lloyd groaned, mumbling something Sothim couldn't understand. Sothim rolled his eyes, trying to remember why Letran wanted to help this guy in the first place. The idiot could take care of himself-

Noishe barked, making Sothim spin around, to see Lloyd on the ground, gritting his teeth. Letran was already kneeling beside him, asking if he was alright.

"It's just like before-! It feels like my back is on fire- argh!" Lloyd winced, before suddenly passing out.

"Well frick." Sothim said.

Letran sighed, "I'll carry him."

"We should go to Luin. They'll have more medical supplies there." Sothim pointed out.

"True, but-!"

"We'll make sure to leave before _that_ happens. Besides, I get the feeling he won't be 'sick' for much longer…"

* * *

**Edit 25/06/11 - Reposted due to mixing up the chapters. Fixed some mistakes and the linebreaks.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Magnified

Lloyd awoke to a massive headache. He rubbed his head, sitting up- ignoring the soreness of his back- and looked around. He was in a what looked like a room at an inn. Lloyd was about to go back to sleep when he noticed something… was off. The wooden floor seemed to have more detail, and he could see the texture of the wall on the other side of the room. He also noticed that he could hear Letran singing from another room clearly, as if she was right beside him.

The door creaked open, Lloyd shouting out in surprise and covering his ears. Sothim, who was standing at the doorway, raised an eyebrow. "You okay, Lloyd?"

Lloyd bit his lip, wincing. It sounded as though Sothim had just _screamed_ at him. Sothim sighed, rubbing the side of his forehead irritated. Lowering his voice, he said, "Sorry."

Lloyd grimaced, glaring at Sothim. "Could you talk a little quieter?"

"I'm whispering, it's kind of hard to get any quieter!" Sothim replied, closing the door behind him.

"…What the hell is going on?" Lloyd said, mainly to himself.

Sothim glanced down, sighing. He reached into the bag at his side he had called a 'wingpack' and took out a book. Opening it up to a random page, he held it up for Lloyd to see- looking like he was expecting Lloyd to read it even though the print was so small it would be difficult to read in any case, but Sothim was standing on the other side of the room. Sothim, who saw no reaction, rolled his eyes. "Can you read this?"

Lloyd gaped at him. "Are you insane? How the hell could I read it from here?"

"…Never mind. Get some rest; we're going to leave as soon as possible," Sothim said, leaving the room, closing the door -rather loudly, in Lloyd's mind- behind him.

"Ugh, why is such weird stuff happening to me?" Lloyd exclaimed. That's when the pain in his back started. Trying not to scream out, Lloyd laid on his stomach- his back didn't hurt as much, at least. He moaned, before taking Sothim's advice and slowly fell asleep.

* * *

They couldn't leave within the next few days (as Sothim had hoped) and Lloyd was stuck in bed. Everything… seemed to be magnified intensely, his eyesight, hearing, touch, taste…. and pain. It seemed to increase every time he woke up- from one of the strange dreams. Sometimes they were nightmares; about infiltrating a ranch, and killing the leader named Magnius, or when he was captured by that 'Yuan' guy, but things happened differently. Other times they were good, enjoyable dreams. Watching Colette become an angel, or sailing on a boat to Palmacosta.

So when Letran and Sothim announced they would be out of town for a few days, Lloyd gladly stayed in bed sleeping. Until he was woken up by the room service of the inn they were staying at.

Lloyd rolled over groaning, wincing at the pain in his back- though it wasn't hurting that much compared to before. "Come in!"

The door opened, revealing a young woman in her early twenties, smiling. "I thought that maybe you would want your sheets changed, but I suppose it can wait…"

Lloyd noticed two things: One, her voice wasn't magnified like it would've been. And two, she looked _very_ familiar. Lloyd got out of bed, scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry, I need to get out of bed anyway," Lloyd replied, stretching a bit, and ignoring the dull pain in his back- which could've been just from laying in bed for several days straight.

The woman giggled, walking over to the bed. "My name is Sarah Irving."

"I'm Lloyd Irving. Ha ha, weird, we have the same last name." Lloyd replied, standing off to the side as Sarah went to work.

"You know, you didn't actually sleep in your suspenders, did you?" She asked, staring at Lloyd- who hadn't bothered to change out of his clothes since he got there.

"Well…"

"You know, I have- well had, a cousin named Lloyd, but…" Sarah shook her head. "I'd better go, my dad will yell at me for not working," She gave Lloyd a grin before leaving the room.

Lloyd sighed, and dug into a bag that contained his new clothes that Letran and Sothim bought the other day- due to his being gone. Letran had told him some over-dramatic story that involved Sothim chasing Noishe and his clothes accidentally falling into the campfire while Lloyd was passed out, though he didn't really believe her. After putting the clothes on he looked in the mirror, contemplating them. He now had a white muscle shirt, a red jacket with white trim at the bottom of both sleeves, the collar, and the at the bottom of the jacket; he also now had light gray pants, and two white belts- instead of the suspenders he had been wearing before.

He decided on going to get something to eat before washing his clothes so that he could wear them again. Once he got to the kitchen, he found Sarah cooking some pancake and bacon. Seeing him come in, she looked over at him and smiled.

"Want something to eat? It's free!"

"Yeah, I'm starving! I haven't eaten in days…" Lloyd moaned, just realizing it.

"Your companions mention something about you being too sick. It looks like you're feeling better though. Where are you from?" Sarah asked, putting a plate of food in front of him.

"Iselia." Lloyd replied before eating as fast as he could.

Sarah snorted, "…Iselia, huh... So do you like your new clothes? That friend of yours…. Sothim, he asked my granny to make them for you."

"They're great. I might use my suspenders instead, though. It feels weird without them."

"Suspenders? Boys, never have any sense of fashion." Sarah sighed, shrugging.

"H-Hey!"

"S'okay, my aunt wore suspenders once and asked what was wrong with them too." Sarah said, grinning.

A man with graying hair walked in looking around. "Sarah, you aren't fooling around, are you?"

"No, of course not, Dad. I'm cooking." Sarah replied, grabbing a bag of flour.

Lloyd looked over at Sarah's father, swallowing. The man frowned, staring at Lloyd.

"Are you by chance, related to a woman named Anna Irving?" He asked. Sarah sighed loudly.

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah, she was my mother. Why? Did you know her?"

The man nodded. "She was my younger sister."

* * *

There were very few things that truly surprised Kratos after his long life. How Colette could honestly listen to Raine's ranting about the stage of Balacruf was one of them. He looked around, not seeing the younger Sage. Kratos thought that the child had been walking around, but even so… He sighed, walking to the back of the stage, where Genis was talking to two other men- who seemed to be bent on blowing up the stage. He sighed. This would be troublesome….

Raine however, saved Kratos from the trouble and beat the two up herself before carefully destroying the bomb. The rest of the group decided that they ought to go help with whatever problem it was- while Kratos left to go get rooms at one of the inns in town.

The place was nostalgic to him, being the place he and Yuan lived in when they were young, before they both joined the army- and were fighting against each other. He missed the blue-haired half-elf, no matter how annoying the sarcastic man was.

He also wondered what had driven Yggdrasill to killing Yuan.

* * *

Yggdrasill sighed, sitting down in a chair. He had been looking for a book in the library- for an entire day- until he realized it wasn't here at all. Why had he hidden it- oh yes, because of that renegade rat. He sighed, thinking of how he was going to have Kratos' boy- Lloyd- in his clutches soon. That boy would gladly join, now. It would be easy, then, to keep Kratos in check. Yggdrasill smirked, before going off to retrieve his book. Only to search though that room, and realize he'd put it somewhere else. He hoped she was having more luck than he did at finding things.

* * *

**_EDIT- 07/14/10 Fixed some mistakes and the linebreaks  
_**

That was so much fun to write :D I love how the part with Kratos is so short but fills in this giant plothole that's been there since the beginning XD whoot!  
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Calmness

"Well, at least you found it." Letran said, playing with her hat. "Right?"

Sothim grumbled, glaring at the book in his hands, "That stupid idiot moved it! And why the hell are there so many libraries?"

"There, there. It's all your fault." Letran patted him on the back, sighing. They were walking through the rather empty streets of Luin, the sun behind the mountains so the was little light to see.

Sothim glared at his sister. "I wonder how Lloyd's doing, we're a bit late, due to that detour we took."

"But-!"

"Yeah, it was all _your_ fault."

Letran pouted, "Fine, let's just get back to the inn and see if Lloyd's okay."

"You sure we can't leave 'im here?" Sothim asked, shrugging.

Letran smacked her brother on the back of the head. "No!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Sothim exclaimed, holding up his arms in self-defense.

Letran nodded, chuckling darkly. "Good. You know, you shouldn't be so mean to him, the poor kid's going through a lot."

Sothim grumbled. "It would be better to not get involved, sis. Trying to help too much will give an opening-"

"It's better to do the right thing rather than nothing at all!" Letran shouted, interrupting him, "Last time it may have ended badly, but-!"

"'But' nothing. Let's just drop the kid off with his group and let them handle the rest. Besides, I'm not planning on doing anything at the tower."

"Speaking on past mistakes, are we?" Letran smirked.

"You-! Just shut up, we're almost into town." Sothim snapped.

They entered the town and made their way over to the inn. When they walked in however, they found Lloyd being given a noogie by a girl who looked rather similar to him.

The girl noticed them, and let go of Lloyd. "Oh hello! Welcome to our inn!" Lloyd fell to the floor, giving the girl a dirty look.

"You didn't have to drop me, Sarah!"

Sarah looked down at him and pouted, "You're such a weakling."

"I am not!"

"Says the guy who stayed in bed for a week 'cause he had a _cold_."

"What's going on, Lloyd?" Letran asked.

Lloyd grinned sheepishly, "Oh, this is Sarah. She's my cousin. Sarah, these are the guys traveling with me, Letran and Sothim."

"Ah, I see. I guess this means you'll be leaving soon."

Letran smiled. Though she heard Sothim mutter, "This mucks things up." She didn't really care. It was good that Lloyd met up with his mother's relatives.

"I promise I'll come back to visit!" Lloyd smiled.

Letran smiled at their innocent talking.

She was getting too attached.

_It was all his fault. _

_He didn't even do anything to stop it. Screw the fact he shouldn't be seen- why hadn't he done something? _

_He'd just lost the first best friend he'd had… in years._

_The dwarf… That girl… …Kratos._

_If he'd done something…_

_They wouldn't be dying right now._

_If he'd never met them… …_

Lloyd felt uneasy the morning they'd left Luin. He couldn't place the feeling of dread. Sure, he'd been sad to leave Sarah and his uncle, but… something bad was going to happen in Luin.

"Hey, stop turning to look at the city and face forward, would you?" Sothim said, "It isn't so interesting that you need to trip and fall on your face."

"It's just… I feel like something bad is going to happen," Lloyd said silently.

"Don't worry about it, okay? It'll be fine. Geez." Sothim groaned.

Lloyd looked down at his feet, Letran cast a worried glance at Lloyd from where she was, riding Noishe, but stayed silent. Lloyd lifted up his head again to take another look behind him after a few minutes, and stopped. Sothim kept walking on, only realizing they'd stopped when he saw that Letran was no longer beside him. He spun around to see his companions staring at the smoke rising from Luin.

Sothim scowled. He'd hoped that they… "…Let's go. Something might've happened."

Lloyd immediately dashed off towards the city. Sothim stared after him, realizing something that could either be good or bad. Probably bad, because of what came next.

"We're getting closer, aren't we?" Letran asked.

"Hmph. I'd hoped this wouldn't happen until…"

"After?"

"Yeah."

Lloyd already a bit ahead, gave a moment to wonder what they were talking about, and stopped to wait for them. But a more pressing worry came first. He was fairly far from them.

And he'd heard them clearly as if they'd been right next to him.

* * *

I'm alive~! This chapter has been done for... a month? I didn't want to post anything until I started writing again, but... it's New Years. It might be awhile until the next chapter (sorry!) But I won't have time between Final Exams and the projects I have to do over the next month. For everyone that still reads my stories, thank you very much for sticking around for so long!  
Anyway, this is the last chapter of the frst arc, (with a wonderful, sort-of cliffhanger -_-) So on we go to the Kvar Arc, and soon, I hope. Reiews are appreciated!


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